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I cannot begin explain the joy I felt whilst working with lek as a
volunteer for the Elephant Nature Park
My first trip was to the to the jungle and of course my first ride on
an elephant. Such graceful, precious animals. We learn much about their
habitat, eating, sleeping habits and best of all their amazing
individual personalities. One would never guess an elephant could
possess such emotion as human but it was proven they do. I met an
amazing elephant " Mae-Perm Lek first elephant ) who was the most
playful elephant even though she was old enough to be my grandmother!
Jokia's shyness towards the three week old' Jungle boy' proved she had
sad memories of her own young elephant calf. Her baby had died whilst
she was being overworked in a logging. Jokia is blind in both eyes and
now pregnant again. We all hope for the best for her and her new calf. "
"Mae Vi" or Lilly was a quite slow, gentle natured female who had also
come from the past of illegal logging. Her previous owner would feed her
amphetamines to make her work harder. this has clearly had an effect on
her and we hope one day she will forget her past and enjoy the freedom
Lek has given her. " Mae Kheaw " also had a sad past of logging and is
the smallest of Lek's elephants. She didn't wander too far away from the
jungle hut at night which made her mahout's job quite easy when it was
time to find her in the morning. I was lucky enough to have the pleasure
of spending time with these beautiful elephant and my many more thanks
to Lek's wonderful volunteer program.
Not only did we spend time in the jungle with the elephants, we were
also able to experience Hill Tribe culture at its purest. My fellow
volunteer and I were treated to a night in a Karen Tribe village. It was
such an amazing experience seeing these people for the first time seeing
the foreigners! It is hard to imagine people living the same as they had
for hundreds year without western influence. I enjoyed the warmth and
innocent of this people and wished there were many more cultures living
in this primitive and pure way of life. We also had the opportunity to
visit a Burmese refugee camp and found out the difficult situation these
tribe people were in. we handed out small gifts and medicines and the
looks on the children faces and their gratitude compelled me to want to
help these unfortunate people even more. These two nights were a
fantastic learning experience which I would recommend to anyone wanting
to enlighten their cultural knowledge.
The highlight of my two week volunteer project was the involvement of
saving a baby elephant from a torturous life. " Ging Mai ( Little tree )
was a five days old baby elephant who become an orphan after his mother
was shot in front of him. He has been stuck between two three for three
days with out any food or water. He was destined to die. Luckily he was
found and it was evident he has strong will to survive. His mother
belong to the village man who wanted the best for him and contacted Lek
to try and help this young orphan. Unfortunately ' Ging Mai' fell into
the wrong hands through a deceiving, lying from the people who promised
to take 'Ging Mai ' to Lek. They was actually taking ' Ging Mai ' for
themselves to tourist camp and tourist related work. Lek believed this
elephant was meant to be free. Luckily she managed to get him back and
free he will live. My fellow volunteer and I could not see this poor
elephant going back into the wrong hand and decided to give him freedom
by purchasing him. So now we have an adopted son!. This is the best
thing I have done and I'm lucky to have had this opportunity through
Lek. ' Ging Mai' is recovering fast from his large 'tree' wounds and
will hopefully have a new elephant mother adopt him soon. I have left
Thailand now and am missing Lek and elephant terribly. Especially little
'Ging Mai' I am fortunate enough to be kept informed of his progress and
fine solace in the face that I can visit my little boy in the near
future!
The volunteer program enabled me to see elephants in a totally
different life and the strength of one woman and her love for elephants
is much to be admired. I wish there were more people like Lek to help
this beautiful, nearly extinct creature.
Thanks you Lek
Leonor Gonzo ( volunteer and elephant foster parent) |
